Within recent times, certain things have become a norm for people during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Social distancing, washing hands regularly for at least 20 seconds and working from home have been ideas that have become the new normal.
Working from home is not essentially a new concept arising from this pandemic. However, it has become an integral part of the way we sustain business activity and productivity during these unprecedented times.
Remote jobs in Jamaica
With the connectivity of the internet, virtually any corporate job can be performed remotely. Companies such as 24-7 Intouch JAM Inc. and Cable & Wireless offer several remote positions in Information Technology, Customer Service, Content Marketing and Business Consultancy. Other areas for remote work opportunities include:
- Digital Marketing
- Photography
- Creative fields – Graphic Design, Music, Fashion
- Marketing Research
- Social Media Management
- Data Management
- Call Centre operations
- Sales – Insurance & Real Estate services
Reasons to work from home
Usually companies do give their employees the option to work from home in the light of national emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 global pandemic, if an employee suffers from an illness for a period of time or depending on the structure of the company itself. For example, online companies who perform a major part of their operations online through e-commerce and may not have the need for a physical office structure, may grant its employees the opportunity to work from home.
View and apply to more Work from home Jobs
Pros to working remotely
Working remotely, does save a variety of costs to the employee in terms of transportation costs and commute. Employees working remotely can enjoy the luxury of working in their own environment and avoiding long hours of commute, traffic and car mileage. This arrangement allows employees to channel that energy more productively.
Employee Flexibility
Working remotely affords employee greater control and management of their time. Often, when employees have to commute to an office, there is very little time to attend to other personal or professional responsibilities.
Remote work alleviates this. Employees can achieve a greater sense of work life balance whilst attending to things they may not previously have had time for such as caring for elderly family members.
Increased Productivity
In some instances, working from home has led to a rise in increased employee productivity. Working in a remote environment eliminates some of the distractions that an office setting might encourage. At home, employees can perform their job functions without co-worker interruptions, incessant phones ringing and office chatter.
More Work from home jobs
Cons of Working Remotely
Low Productivity
While some employees may report working remotely helps their concentration and focus, other employees may find the isolation and silence to be deterrents to their productivity. In addition, working from home does not totally eliminate potential distractions. Tending to children, browsing through social media and other activities at home could be potential distractions which can hamper an employee’s ability to adhere to their tasks.
Lack of Community and Work Culture
While video conferencing affords several benefits in terms of communication, it is not a perfect replacement for face-to-face interaction and collaboration. Working remotely makes it difficult to achieve a sense of teamwork and community that working together physically may provide.
Reliability and quality of work may decrease
Working remotely lacks one component – a steady managerial presence. Whilst some employees thrive with minimal supervision, there is the potential for the quality of work to suffer if an employee starts to experience a loss of accountability.
Work may be handed in late and the overall quality may suffer. As such, it is vital that proper training and project management practice is exercised in order to ensure managers keep up-to-date with work progress and employees remain accountable.
Tools to use while working remotely
It is necessary to have effective tools to facilitate team interactions and ensure work is completed in the same efficiency as being in a physical space.
Project Management tools such as BaseCamp and Trello keeps track of team members in one space and also allows for project checklists, files, timelines and progress to be shared. Such project management tools can alleviate employees losing accountability as progress is consistently tracked and work quality would likely not suffer.
An essential requirement of working remotely is the ability to communicate effectively. Essential tools for effective communication include Slack, Skype, Zoom and Google Hangouts. These chat platforms allow for team members to collaborate in real time and helps build some sense of team togetherness, despite being apart.
Documentation tools on Google Drive allows for files and working documents to be shared and saved by multiple team members, regardless of location. Additionally, Adobe Creative Cloud affords creative professionals to save, share and upload work files so that multiple team members can view and work on a particular project together.
Employees can also utilize Google Calendar while working remotely to maintain a schedule and organise their work, as well as Grammarly to ensure work submitted is grammatically sound and of professional quality.
Tips for working at home productively
Find a comfortable work environment
While you are working from home, it is critical that you establish a workspace that is comfortable, but also free of as many distractions as possible. You can build a home office, or find a quiet, inspiring corner of the home where you can focus on your work as successfully as possible.
Keep your communication flowing
Working remotely may have a few barriers, but communication should never be one of them. Whether you need to consult your manager, colleague or client, you should always have your communication tools ready to interact and reach out to someone if the need arises.
Establish a daily routine plan
Just as you would have your normal routine when working at the office, a morning routine will help your experience in working remotely to be a productive one. Set time limits on your tasks, take scheduled breaks and limit social media consumption, just as you would do at the office.
Limit your distractions
While you’re at home, there are far more temptations you’re exposed to than in the office. Television, internet, kids, – all of these can take your mind off of your daily work tasks. Working remotely does require discipline on your part to remove these distractions as much as you can in order to ensure your work obligations are not compromised.
